Underrated Virtue
by EmeraldEyes69
Summary: Nothing you can say will make me go back' Feeling unwanted Sakura leaves the village after taking up an offer to leave with an unknown force immidiately after Sasuke takes his leave for sound. 'I'm not asking you to, I am asking you to join us though.'
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **

**Takes Place after Sasuke and Naruto's battle on the Hospital roof**

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As Sakura stood there crying silently but uncontrollably Naruto walked over with a look of anger and resentment on his face.

"Sakura….." Naruto said

"Yes Naruto?" Sakura replied, "What is it?" She asked softly still crying silently.

Naruto started to speak "This….." He hesitated, "this is Sasuke's and my fight… stay out of it." He finished coldly. He walked away slowly back to the stairs and off the hospital roof. Leaving Sakura standing there shocked at what he said to her.

As Sakura made her way home already having left the hospital she thought, "Why?" She whispered to herself, "Why must I always be in the way? Why can't for once I be of use?" She walked into her empty house, "Naruto and Sasuke… they nearly killed each other and…" She hesitated to say the undeniable truth, "and all I did was stand there like an idiot and scream their names instead of doing anything about it!" She finshed angrily.

She walked into her living room, her foot steps echoing in the long since empty house. She shed a single tear as she looked at an abandoned picture covered in dust and turned it face down. She walked up the stairs, turned a hallway and entered a room. She switched out of her clothes for cleaner ones and left the house.

* * *

Naruto walked toward the Hokage Mountain. He sat down with an upsetting face.

He whispered, "Sasuke-Teme….. what's happened to you? You seem to be getting more and more distant. You get angered a lot easily as well. Is it because of your brother?" He asked himself. "You're starting to sink into the darkness…. and with each passing day you'll sink deeper… until you won't be able to get yourself out." His face was one of hopelessness as he lowered his eyes towards the village, "Sakura-chan and I… we worry. We're afraid you might do something unpredictable. We nearly hurt each other severely back there. You and I… we always had a rivalry between us… but now… you've taken it way too far. I've tried to find out what's wrong, but I'm a long way off from finding the truth and Sakura-chan… she worries much more than I do… and it's like there's secret you two aren't telling me…something important." He sighed, "That one time at the chuunin exams when you were fighting your opponent in the preliminary rounds… those marks on your skin… what were they?"

Naruto's face now held something that could only be described as determination as he spoke slightly louder, "Sasuke-Teme I know something's wrong… and I won't give up until you're back to normal like how you were when we were sort of…friends." He finished, now more quietly than before.

Naruto slowly walked away from Hokage Mountain. As he reached farther away now looking up at it he said, "I won't give up on you Sasuke-Teme because friends don't give up on one another and more importantly future Hokages never give up Dattebayo!" Naruto finished with a cheesy grin plastered on his face as he walked into the distance and entered a familiar food stand known as Ichiraku.

* * *

Cherry blossom petals floated gently in the wind around Sakura. She was standing in front of the memorial stone. Bending down, she placed a bouquet of pure white flowers in front of it. The wind was howling and the sky was a soft grey hue as the sunny and warm day had now turned into a cloudy and slightly windy one.

Her eyes lower to the memorial as she started to say in a quiet tone, "I'm sorry I haven't visited you guys. But I have a lot to tell you this time." She said in a false tone of happiness. "My teammates Sasuke and Naruto…. they haven't been getting along lately. They used to have a normal rivalry between them…but now it's like they're on opposing sides of a war, and Sasuke…. he's started acting different ever since we came back from our mission in Tea country. He's been picking fights with Naruto when it's usually the other way around." She sighed, "and earlier today… the look in their eyes as they fought, it was off." She said unsurely. "Naruto's eyes held determination and it was if he wanted to prove himself, while Sasuke's held the intent for killing."

Her eyes held fear and hopelessness as she continued to speak, "I'm scared. I don't know what to think or what to do anymore and Sasuke… he's growing colder and turning to the darkness." Her tone faltered a bit. "When Orochimaru gave him the cursemark… it wasn't that bad, I mean sure at first he acted differently but he soon went back to normal. Then his brother showed up when he still wasn't fully recovered emotionally and mentally. He grew colder and more anti-social towards us." Her eyes now looked to the sky. "He soon recovered after his fight with his brother and everything was back to normal."

Sakura smiled. "After that we tried to find out what was under Kakashi-sensei's mask but that didn't work out too well." She laughed a quietly but then her laughter ceased and her smile turned into something between a sad smile and a frown, "but then we took up an A-rank mission to Tea country just the three of us. The mission was successful in the end, though we had some rough patches here and there." Her fists clenched, "Then when we got back Sasuke was acting strange and then that's when he started challenging Naruto. I have this feeling that something's not right as well." Her eyes held tears as she once again directed them to the memorial stone, "You know….. it's times like this that I wish you guys were still here. I wish I still had your guidance." She bowed to the memorial stone and said, "I'm sorry but I have to go. I'll visit again soon."

As Sakura walked at a medium pace away from the memorial stone she whispered, "I miss you…. mom…dad", so softly almost undetectable to the human ear. What she didn't notice as she left the area was the pair of eyes that had watched her since she first got there and listened to every word she said.

* * *

Sasuke sat on the branch of a tree where he had been sitting ever since he walked out on his team after battling Naruto. As he sat there he thought _"Each day since Orochimaru gave me that cursemark… it seems as thought Naruto has been improving quickly. He's quickly catching up to me and soon… he'll most likely surpass me."_ Sasuke thought as he clenched his fists so hard the knuckles were beginning to become visible, _"It's like no matter how hard I try…_ _Itachi's still a long ways reach from me. Naruto", _his fists visibly clenched more than before, _"He's visibly becoming stronger while I show almost no improvement. Kakashi… Sakura… Naruto… they're holding me back. They want to keep me from reaching my goal." _His eyes hardened, _"But I won't let them."_

Sasuke's eyes darkened with anger, fury, hate... sorrow…. loneliness…, _"They don't know what it's like… to have a family and then lose it all in one night." _He grew angry,_ "Kakashi…he had friends and fame… he didn't need one, Naruto… he never had one so he doesn't even know the pain of having them then losing them, and Sakura", _His eyes grew fiercer with a new emotion…. jealousy, _"she's always had a family so she's nothing like me or is even close to knowing what I've been through." _He thought, his every word laced with malice, _"She thinks the world is a happy place to live. She doesn't know the pain I go through every day. Waking up and hoping that it was only a nightmare", _his eyes softened, _"hoping that my mother's still here cooking breakfast…, hoping that my father left early for work again…, hoping that my brother's still here still holding out on his promise to help me practice my shuriken…" _His eyes grew cold again, _"but then realizing that it's not a dream… that it's reality."_

Sasuke's eyes started to grow full of hate with each word he spoke, _"Then she thinks she can help me forget", _his eyes hardened with rage, _"forget about my family", _his eyes hardened even more with fury, _"forget about avenging my clan", _his eyes hardened to their fullest extent filled with hostility, _"and forget about my brother…" _His sharingan activated.

He then needed to vent out his anger even if he didn't know it. And that vent came in the form of Sakura Haruno…

* * *

Sakura walked along a dirt path leading her to Sasuke's location. She saw his sharingan activated and decided to approach him.

As she walked towards him slowly, she wanted to ask him a simple question but in return would receive something hurtful and cruel.

* * *

"Sasuke what's wrong?" asked Sakura with worry in her eyes and voice.

Sasuke still not fully normal spoke without thinking, "You. You're what's wrong."

Sakura, shocked at Sasuke's outburst could only reply "wh-why?" In a meek voice full of pain and shock.

Sasuke still unaware of the hurtful words pouring out of his mouth like water exploding from a single crack in a dam, continued to vent out all his anger that had been stored up for years, "Why? Why? You think the world is all full of flowers and rainbows, but it isn't. It's a world full of pain and fear. And while you live in your little bubble your parents created for you, you think the world is a safe place while it isn't. Millions have had their families ripped from them and you don't even have a clue." he said coldly, venom dripping off his every word.

Sakura now afraid and full of pain that was visibly showing in her eyes could only respond, "but I didn't, I never said-"

Sasuke interrupted her "but you never said- whatever. You clearly implied it. You try to understand people like Kakashi, Naruto, and me but you have no idea what it's like to be alone." his sharingan was full of rage, "You think you're so tough. You'll never know what it's like to be alone day and night. And instead of training, you sit in the background and continuously ask me out on dates when you could be doing something useful."

Sasuke got face to face with Sakura and said the most hurtful words anyone could ever say to her, "but you know what? Now that you think about it, it's to be expected." He said with an evil smirk and cruel eyes, "and it's expected because you're like a weed."

Sakura widened her eyes but Sasuke continued, "A weed… you two have so much in comparison. You're both annoying, weak, and…. unwanted." He finished.

The last word hit Sakura the hardest. The other two didn't faze her as much, sure they hurt, but those were Sasuke's favorite words to use on her. But it had never occurred to her that she was like a weed and… unwanted. Unconsciously tears started to fall like a water fall as sobs shook her body.

Sakura's sobs seemed to shake Sasuke out of his reverie. As he looked at her, everything he had said finally registered into his mind. His eyes slightly widened then returned to normal at what he had say_'It wasn't my intenion say that outloud.'_

Sasuke slightly parted his lips to try and speak to her but Sakura took a step back. Slight guilt stirred deep within as he saw the raw emotions in her eyes.

He tried to speak to her, "Sakura… I ap- apol-", he struggled to get it out,"apolo..gize. It wasn't my intention to say that out lou-", but he didn't finish, for Sakura was already running as fast as her legs could take her.

Sasuke slightly raised an eyebrow in the direction that she had run off in, _'It's not like I intentually said that anyways.' _He thought. Sasuke sighed, stuck his hands in his pockets and headed off towards the Uchiha compound with out sparing a glance back. The only thing he did whilst walking home was sparing the thought, _'What's her problem? I apologized didn't I?"_

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**The next chapter will be more exciting I swear!**

**This first chapter of my first **_**real **_**story is dedicated to ****Gaara's Vampire Girl**** you should so read her stories.**


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note-

Well I'm sorry to say that this Fic might not go on to see another chapter….haha that is to say if anybody ever actually read it to begin with :P but I have to say this isn't the best work I could've done…I've come to realize that Sasuke is completely out of character (let's face it the brat probably hasn't said that many words in his life) and Sakura is way too different or my taste (I practically gagged once I read her lines again). In fact if this wasn't my Fic and I read it I would say it's awful - _- so it's going to be discontinued so I can start another one that isn't an atrocious piece of literary work. I'm sorry to those who were wonderful enough to review it and subscribe to it. But I have to say that my taste in literature and writing has completely changed and this is completely below my current standards.


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